Intern Insights, Jamie Mendoza

August 9, 2019 glintadv Leave a comment

Jamie Mendoza Red Telephone Booth As a college student, it is imperative to have internships under your belt before applying for a job. I’ve heard the horror stories. The ones that depict the intern as just a cog in a machine, going on coffee runs and doing miscellaneous tasks like filing papers. So when Glint Advertising called and offered me an internship, I had no idea what I was in for. I did know I wanted to learn everything I possibly could during my time there, which I did. What I didn’t expect was to learn who I am as a person and how I would fit into this industry.

The Glint team is brilliant in the way that they take every challenge as an opportunity, and are just as eager to learn as their interns. The passion they put into their clients’ work is the same they demonstrate towards teaching. My experience in this industry was microscopic, and they took that in stride. I quickly found what you learn in a classroom that barely scratches the surface of what it’s actually like at an agency. Here are some important tips I’ve learned about how to navigate the business world.

An hour of creativity can go a long way for a client but is only a minor piece of the puzzle.
Going above and beyond is what puts you ahead, but there are so many factors you must take into consideration if you want to be successful.

Have a reason to show up to work every day.
Everyone’s reason will vary, but passion is contagious and can make a significant difference for your job and your clients.

Always be confident in your ideas and what you’re presenting.
Confident people own the choices they make and accept the outcomes that come with them. Removing self-doubt will not only ensure your own trust but will allow your clients to believe in you as well.

Don’t be afraid of talking about money.
As awkward as the topic may be, it’s the universal component that makes the world go round for all parties. Getting that conversation going during the initial meeting will save you many difficult conversations later on.

Always ask questions, even if you’re scared of the answer.
Learning something new about yourself or your work, even if that something is negative, means you have the will to correct it. So ask all those hard questions, because a good leader is never scared of an opportunity to learn.

Be thankful.
This industry is very competitive, so being hired as an intern or an employee is an incredible opportunity. Be grateful for every challenge, triumph, defeat, and victory, because someone believed in you enough to give you this chance. Don’t let it go to waste.

Along with these tips, I’ve also learned a great deal about myself and what I can accomplish. I now appreciate constructive criticism and can learn from my mistakes. I can consult and take suggestions from my coworkers, but also make confident decisions based on my own knowledge of the topic. I learned you must sometimes fail to succeed, and that’s okay. On top of it all, I created strong professional relationships with the Glint team and will continue to seek their guidance for as long as I can.

My summer with Glint has allowed me to grow personally and gain new knowledge of the advertising industry. Although I already had passion for this career, this internship cultivated a new perspective for me and the things I can achieve as a business professional. Like a sixth-grader on the playground, Glint opened my eyes toward opportunities that I could capitalize on. I’ll spare you the comparison of the monkey bars to social media strategy, as they are both as fun as they are challenging. Even though I’m sad my time as a Glint intern is coming to an end, I’m eager to see where my career will take me.

Looking for an internship? Give us a call at 817-616-0320 or drop us a note at agency@glintadv.com and learn what it takes.

Industry News

The Real Cost of “Low-Cost” Marketing

July 23, 2019 glintadv Leave a comment

Low-Cost Marketing Header Some entrepreneurs believe that low-cost marketing efforts are enough to lead a company to their goals. While this might be possible for a very small percentage of all companies out there, it is far more likely that low-cost marketing will have the business falling short. This article helps explain why companies should be investing more time and money into their marketing efforts to avoid the hidden cost of low-cost marketing.

What Is Low-Cost Marketing?
Low-cost marketing is a relatively simple term that is defined by any form of marketing efforts that come at a relatively low cost. Some of the more common examples of low-cost marketing include social media advertisements, free product samples, website forums, and more. Many of these tactics are extremely valuable, but not when used in the setting of low-cost marketing.

Lack of Marketing Planning
Many different problems are associated with low-cost marketing. One of the biggest is that inexpensive marketing tends to lack any long-term vision. Since developing an in-depth marketing plan involves spending many hours and more than a thousand dollars on ideas and developments, most companies tend to avoid it when they are looking for low-cost marketing options.

Therefore, using these low-cost marketing tactics means companies are generally operating on a tactic basis rather than following a strategic plan. It is essentially bringing a “flying by the seat of your pants” attitude to running a business, which is never a good idea. After all, failing to plan your business ventures essentially equates to planning to fail.

Inability to Be Consistent
If you are going to be one thing, then it is best to be consistent. Consistency is especially true when it comes to operating a business. When customers and clients look at any part of a business’s operation, whether it is their website, social media pages, public advertisements or some other form of publicity, then they expect to see a certain standard of material. This type and standard will vary greatly depending on the specifics of the company. However, the company must be able to stick to their carefully crafted image no matter what they are doing.

The more people who are involved in the marketing efforts, the harder this is to do. This is because different individuals can have opposing opinions on how to best communicate strategies or ideas. If they are not working in unison and following a well-developed marketing plan, then it can be easy for approaches to become mixed up.

Inconsistent approaches often result in a random jumble of different voices being produced by the company. Not only will this come off as looking unprofessional and generally annoying, but it will also have real-world consequences by reducing the number of possible sales a company could get.

Less Progress Over More Time
When it comes to operating a business, an emphasis on long-term growth is essential. Since the majority of businesses fail within the first five years of operation, companies must be aware of where every single dollar is being spent so their operations can be sustainable over the long term.

Many companies make the mistake of thinking the answer is using low-cost marketing that will end up saving them money on their marketing efforts. However, what they fail to understand is that low-cost marketing has a very narrow window in which it is useful. If a company is hoping to be in operation for longer than a few months, then they are going to need something much more developed and hefty than anything low-cost marketing can offer.

Since low-cost marketing is spending significantly less money on a company’s marketing efforts, it is inherently going to produce fewer results. Fewer results are not typically something any company is looking for, especially one that is just getting started or is only a couple of years old looking for significant growth within their customer base.

The basic strategies of low-cost marketing mean it will result in a slow burn in how it improves a business’ customer base. If a company is only spending $1,000 every couple of months on simple tasks like Facebook marketing and is only seeing marginal results from it, then they are not going to get an outstanding ROI.

Solutions to Low-Cost Marketing
There is a reason why so many people say that you need to spend money to make money. In the world of business, this could not be more true, especially when it comes to marketing efforts. After all, if the company is not able to get their name out into the public and make customers know they even exist, then no one is going to be aware of their products or services, let alone purchase them. So if a company is going to cut corners anywhere, marketing is the last area in which they should do so.

Taking the time to develop a comprehensive marketing plan is crucial for the long-term development of any company. Marketing Plan Cover These marketing plans often have sections dedicated to setting milestones for the 6-month mark, 1-year mark, 5-year mark, and 10-year mark, with occasional milestones thrown in between those points. A marketing plan might not seem like an important part of the process, but it is vital to help ensure a company stays on track.

When marketing efforts are attempted without any vision of a common goal, then it is far too easy for the messages and efforts of the marketing to become lost and far less useful. Having one person or one team handle the vast majority of marketing efforts for a company can help to ensure all of the content stays on brand and delivers the best results possible.

Spending more money upfront on marketing efforts will also ensure faster results for the company. Instead of having to wait six months or even a year to see any significant rise in a company’s customer base, they could see their numbers more than double in only three to four months of work by spending $7,000 to $10,000 a month.

To get a team of professionals to help you fulfill the best marketing strategy possible, contact our team at Glint Advertising today. We deliver the content that you need to get the results that you want.

Digital Marketing, Industry News, Integrated Marketing, Traditional Advertising

Establishing a Company Voice

June 24, 2019 glintadv Leave a comment

Speak Your Company Voice There are about 1.7 billion websites on the internet. That is about 1.7 billion businesses that are constantly talking online. However, only about 200 million of those websites are active and many of them are saying the same thing in the same way. That’s why it is so important that companies establish a unique voice and utilize every resource that they can to shout it from the rooftops.

One of the best resources for companies to gain an advantage over the competition is the use of a company voice. This is a term that seems to get thrown around a lot, yet many companies do not fully understand what it means, how to identify one, or how to build their own.

More Than Just Words
A company voice obviously involves the words that are said, but it is so much more than that. The tone of what is said is arguably just as important as the words themselves. Although the words are what delivers the message, the tone is what is used to establish intent and set a company apart from its competitors.

In fact, it was first established by Albert Mehrabian in 1967 that the words that are being said are actually a significantly small portion of communication. He proposed that the act of communication was comprised of three distinct parts: the words being spoken, the tone of the words, and the body language accompanying it. In his system, the words spoken accounted for only 7 percent of meaning, while tone accounted for 30 percent, and the remaining 55 percent was body language.

While this is not a perfect comparison for business today, considering the internet did not exist in 1967, it is still a relatively accurate model of communication. Taking this model into account, trying to base a company voice strictly off of words is not going to get you anywhere. It takes so much more than that, which is why so many companies fail to develop a signature voice.

Identifying a Company Voice
There are many professionals who are likely reading this right now and thinking that it does not apply to them. That might be entirely true, but there is a better chance that your company does not have the voice that you think it does. Here is a great test to figure out whether your company has its own distinct voice or not.

If you go on to your website or social media accounts and cover up the logo of the page and posts, you should be able to show these to someone familiar with the company, and they should immediately be able to tell what company these belong to based on the voice of the content. If they struggle to figure it out or are not able to identify it at all, then there is a good chance that your company is lacking the voice that you thought it had.

Almost just as bad as not having a company voice is having multiple, often conflicting, company voices. This can occur when the company voice is being portrayed by various employees and takes on their own voice rather than the overall company’s. For example, if the tone of the content that can be found on the company website dramatically varies from the tone of content that can be found on its social pages, there is a good chance that the company voice is really just the voices of various employees. This will once again make it hard for people to identify your company based on the voice of the content since there will be no consistency throughout the company’s various online channels.

Finding Yourself
There is a common cliche that you have to learn to love yourself before you can learn to let others love you. Well, a similar thing can be said for the world of business and finding a company voice. There is no way that a company can share a voice with the public if they do not first sit down amongst themselves, and figure out exactly what their voice is.

This process starts with an internal reflection of what makes your company unique and embracing that fact to establish a company voice. This goes far beyond how your company’s products are different from your competitor’s products. It should include things like what is different about the office culture that you have created at your company, how your employees are unique, and how your business practices set you apart. All of these things are part of who your company is and should, therefore, be an integral part of your company’s voice.

When completing this evaluation of your company, it is important to come away with things that are not cliche. After all, this is not someone interviewing for a job, it is a company attempting to establish its unique voice. So it is wise to try and stay away from typical descriptors such as honest, dependable, cutting edge, and revolutionary. Ironically, using these words is anything but cutting edge, since a large portion of businesses will integrate this as part of their voice.

Once your company has completed this exercise and has come away with several important indicators of what makes you unique, it is essential that you write these down and keep them handy for future use. After all, in most companies, the communications will be handled by a designated communications worker, which is likely to see some turnover throughout the years.

As new employees or multiple employees become tasked with handling certain sections of corporate communication, they need to have the tools necessary to be able to display a consistent voice across all platforms. So by having a physical, or rather digital, copy of this voice style guide, these employees can work to make sure that what they are writing up falls in line with the company voice.

Shout It From the Rooftops
Once a company has a concrete idea of what they want their voice to be, it is time to start shouting it from the rooftops so that the public can be introduced to their new voice. Companies should then begin including this voice in everything — the about page on their website, product descriptions, email subscription confirmation messages, voicemail greetings, face to face communication, and more.

Nothing is too small to fall in line with the company voice, since anything that does not match up with this established voice can be confusing to customers. If you need help establishing your voice and aligning it with your brand, Glint is here to help. For more information, email us at agency@glintadv.com or give us a call at 817-616-0320.

Industry News

How An Office Pet Can Improve Your Business

May 6, 2019 glintadv Leave a comment

When coming home from a hard day at work, for many people, a dog, cat, or other pet is one of the first things waiting to greet them. If you were to ask many pet owners why they go through the effort and expense of maintaining a pet, you’re generally going to get a similar set of answers, talking about how the animal provides unconditional love and companionship. For many people, simply relaxing at home with their pet makes them feel more relaxed, and helps make a house a home for them.

Now, imagine bringing some of those benefits to work with you every day. Chances are you’ve probably heard of animals like service dogs that provide physical and emotional support to people with various issues. The advent of office pets, or programs that allow people to bring their pets to work from home, try to translate some of these benefits into a workforce setting. Here are some of the benefits you stand to get from doing this, and how to find the right office pet match.

Why Use An Office Pet?
Perhaps the most substantial reason why you may want to consider implementing a pet policy or office pet is one of the biggest reasons people love having a pet at home: for relieving stress. Studies have shown that office pets can help relieve stress and anxiety in workplace settings, which, in turn, can create a more relaxed working environment and help improve productivity. Office pets have been associated with other benefits including lower blood pressure and reduction in symptoms of depression.

In the same vein, an office pet can also provide a great way for members of the team to bond. Having something in the office to break tension can help get your team members comfortable with each other, especially in a newer business. Having a pet can also foster a sense of morale within a company.

Another benefit that’s worth mentioning is work-life balance, and how office pets factor into that. Many people are placing a higher premium on the amount of time they spend in “work mode” and the time they spend at home. In some cases, you may not be able to offer perks like telecommunication as a part of your business, but you can make your workspace feel more like home with an office pet. The natural attention and care that pets require can also provide a practical break from various tasks.

In some cases, if employees can bring pets to work, it may tie in well with other employee initiatives. For example, many people wish they could have a gym at work, when that’s not possible, taking time to walk the office dog could help them get a little exercise and enjoy the pet’s company at the same time.

Managing The Downsides
With this said, as many benefits as there are, there are going to be some inherent drawbacks to implementing a pet policy or getting an office pet. For one thing, there are going to be certain environments, like food service, where having an animal around simply cannot work, no matter how well-trained the animal is.

However, even if your office is suitable for pets, there may be potential bumps in the road. For example, if you have an existing set of employees, you need to realize that not everyone is going to be an animal lover, and for some, it may be flat-out disruptive. This is why it’s essential to make sure that you take the time to inform all relevant employees of the possibility before it goes into practice. Some people may have pet phobias or allergies that make certain types of pets a poor fit for the office. This can be even more difficult to manage if you’re a business that has regular clients, customers, or visitors. Even if your employees are okay with animals, these people may not be, and the last thing you want to do is lose a sale or client over the office pet. Creating pet-free-zones may be a way to create balance here.

Along with this, there are also practical concerns that come with having an animal in the office. Naturally, there’s going to be some employee who’s tasked with feeding the animal, cleaning it, and taking it to use the bathroom, if needed. This represents a minor loss of productivity you need to account for. Another thing to consider is the fact that you don’t want the pet to be too distracting; thus, you may want to work with HR to put some limitations on the policy. This is especially important if multiple people may consider bringing their pets to work. If the pets don’t get along, it turns a relaxing workplace into a tense one.

Choosing The Right Office Pet
With these benefits and issues to consider, what makes the best office pet possible? The proper answer here is what is the best fit for your office. For example, many people may love the idea of having a dog at work due to their natural capacity for affection and playfulness. However, there are many different breeds of dog with different temperaments so you may want to look for one that isn’t overly energetic for those times when your staff need to focus. By comparison, a cat doesn’t need as much attention, though they have a natural curiosity that you want to make sure doesn’t have them creeping into your pet-free zones.

In some cases, for offices on the fence about pet policies, you may want to work your way up to something like a cat or dog, and start with a fish or reptile. The benefits with these are that they are naturally quiet and constrained to one area, but the drawback is that they may require a lot of maintenance to keep healthy.

Advertising Your Office Pet
As you can see, taking the time to put together a pet program or allowing employees to bring their own pets can reap dividends, so long as you take the essential preparatory steps. One of the biggest reasons that you want to do this is not just for the sake of your current employees, but for your future employees as well. More and more prospective employees are looking at not only factors like the wages you give out or your prominence in your industry, but the other smaller perks that you have to offer. Having an office pet or pet program can make your company stand out to that excellent candidate who happens to be an animal lover.

Glint Advertising can help you put some of your most unique areas of strength, like pet days, in front of job candidates and prospects. Reach out to us at info@glintadv.com or call us at 817-616-0320 for a consultation today.

Careers, Industry News

Do You Have A Stepping Stone Business?

March 21, 2019 glintadv Leave a comment

Woman Stepping Stones to Advancing Career.

The stepping stone business concept is a foundational structure developed within Glint. A broad view of our concept may be rife with misconceptions and conflicting viewpoints. Depending on who you ask, being a stepping stone business is either a terrible situation or an essential part of the growth of millions of employees nationwide. This can be a difficult divide to fathom, at first. However, we are here to help clear the air about stepping stone businesses, their role in the modern job marketplace, and help you determine if you have one.

What Is a Stepping Stone Business?
Perhaps part of the reason people are so confused about a stepping stone business concept is they’re not sure whether it is a positive or negative. This is also something that may not be instantly recognizable when it comes to the employees or even the leadership team at these companies. However, it is vital they understand the role of the business and their responsibility for developing the skills of those around them. The easiest way to define a stepping stone company is any business that has a relatively high turnover of employees and generally doesn’t retain the majority of its staff for a period longer than two years.

At first glance, when a business discovers that it is a stepping stone company, it may seem like a flat negative. However, this is far from the case. In order to explain the potential benefits of being a stepping stone business, though, we need to first get into the nuts and bolts of what causes a business to become a stepping stone company.

What Causes a Stepping Stone Business?
There could be many reasons that your company experiences a high turnover rate of employees. In some cases, it boils down to compensation, like lower wages or a weaker benefits package compared to other companies in the field. However, in other cases, it’s not a problem with your company, but a trait within the people that you are hiring.

For example, some businesses are inherently stepping stone companies by virtue of their niche. Any company that hires a lot of entry-level employees or people working for minimum wage will naturally get a lot of turnover. These include jobs like retail stores or restaurants, where you can see a change in employees on a nearly monthly basis.

When we start moving outside of those niches, the reason why employees may turnover a lot at a company may not be due to the workload or them not enjoying working for you. Work world veterans may remember the time where the paradigm was that a person should settle down at a company for the bulk of their career, and would be well compensated for their loyalty. The mentality of many employees has changed, and they have statistics on their side. Recent research has indicated that employees who change jobs every year or two tend to make a lot more money throughout their life than the traditional “company man.” This change in mentality is shaping employment trends across a variety of industries, as employees look to move simply to increase their earning power.

Embracing a Stepping Stone Role
At first glance, it may come across as frustrating to be in this role, to be developing talent only to lose it. However, being a stepping stone company is not a negative by any stretch of the imagination. By leaning into this role, you can still establish your business as a desirable place to work, even if you are only retaining that talent for a few years. The fact of the matter is that many young professionals entering the workforce want an environment to develop their skills and prepare them for a career job. A strong stepping stone company offers a symbiotic benefit for both parties in this regard.

The benefit for the employees is easy to figure out, a chance to learn in their field and increase their earning potential for the future, but how exactly does the stepping stone business benefit from this? A lot of this is offering perks outside of a higher salary that employees can use as benefits while they are at your company. One such example of this is flex time during the day for employees to adjust their environment as needed to complete tasks on-time and meet companies standards of quality. After all, everyone is unique and may require different work structures in order to succeed. Along with their workload for you, they can also work to improve vital skills for advancing their careers quickly.

Another option that you can pursue is to make education reimbursement funds available to your employees. Many employees who are serious about “job hopping” understand that it may sometimes take additional education or professional development to get there. By working at a place that allows them to have a portion of their education expenses reimbursed, there is a natural motivation to sign on and work well for the duration of those courses.

Note that being a stepping stone company is not limited to small businesses. Larger companies with national or international presences can also offer the perk of relocation. Many younger skilled employees have a natural inclination to travel, and by offering relocation, this is a natural way to set up your company as a premier destination. There are more practical benefits to relocation for an employee. In some cases, an employee may want to work with you to learn, but doesn’t want to be tied down to a specific location. While there is a significant cost associated with relocation, it can do a lot to set you apart from other stepping stone companies.

Leveraging The Benefits Of Being A Stepping Stone Company
In summation, when it comes to leveraging the benefits of a stepping stone company, it helps to put yourself in the mind of an employee. Most of the well-paying jobs in major companies across a wide variety of industries require experience and distinguished performance to get hired. Working at a stepping stone company, with different responsibilities and pace, can provide exactly the experience the employee needs. They may not get all the benefits and pay they want at the time, but they are increasing the chances of getting it later. Also, showing a solid commitment of two years on a resume sends across a strong message to future employers.

In some cases, strong performance at a stepping stone company can also be its own reward. For example, internal advancement is always a possibility for proven employees. Even if they choose to move on, they can still carry some benefits to their new jobs, like working relationships and networking with leaders and coworkers. Generally, stepping stone companies are more likely to offer this than their larger counterparts. Larger, corporate structures, often have a ceiling for growth that requires the person above you to either retire or change jobs for you to continue climbing the corporate ladder.

The right stepping stone business can also surprise you with retention shifts where people don’t want to leave. Additional benefits come from a strong established reputation within your industry where employment is sought after and the business creates an option of growing from a stepping stone to a mountain within their industry.

Have questions or want some help establishing your companies brand culture and perception? Give us a call at 817-616-0320, click here, or leave us a comment below.